You'll find a bank who'll open a "special" account for you... but once you get some advisors organized, what then? Won't you be pummeled with withdrawal charges and such when trying to break it all up into different banks?

Should you even deal with advisors?

What's the QUICKEST way to turn a 9-digit check into liquid cash to even begin your quest of securing it all?

You take the check to a federal reserve bank. Transfer as much as you like into a Swiss account. Set up a trust if you have family. The bank of your choice will disburse as much money to any institution as you like (charity tax rite off). Any additional money to be deposited you can have account sets up in any part of the world. Hire an accountant. Buy some stock. Open twenty $1.00 stores. Buy a good briefcase and put as much cash in it will hold. Put a safe in your new million dollar home. Sit back and relax get other people to do your daily tasks for you. Hire a body guard. Take a million dollars to Vegas or other casino and bet it all. Take a duffle bag full of 100 dollar bills and drop them off a tall building at lunch time hire a photographer to take the film of the people killing each other scrambling to pick up the bills. Most of all use your imagination I'm sure you'll think of something. to do with your cash. And last but not least if your one of those people that don't trust banks. Fill your mattress up with all the dough and tell everybody where you put it so they can break into your house and steal the money and have a party.

Ok, I'm new to the board, but I'm guessing you're poking fun at other posters by plopping down suggestions they give out lol.

But I'm serious. If you think I'm just a dreamer asking a theoretical question, then realize I'm actually asking this for a reason.

Needless to say, you're smart enough to know any more details would be insanity on my part. ;)

Now regarding what someone said in anothe post (Bug something) of simply buying up bonds from the gov't and living off interest. Is this a feasible way to go about things? Simple is often best... but is there such a thing as simple in this case?

Seriously if I had a 9 digit check to cash I would call my lawyer go to the bank set up a trust for my family members. Deposit some in a Swiss bank. Disperse some to various banks around the USA. get a good stock portfolio. And some life and health insurance for myself and family members clear up any debts I owe. Donate some to the church and the disabled vets organization. Of course there are ways to set up accounts so you could live off the interest if that's what you want to do. Put my most valuable stuff in cold storage, look for a beautiful home Somware. Then I would hit the trail go visit places around the world. When I got back home I would contact a financial planner and sit down and discuss various ways to keep my money from dissolving I would probably open a lot of business that would generate additional income if that's what it would take to keep hold of my money, car washes and chicken shacks generate good income. then I could live the way I wanted to live. There is probably a couple hundred other things I would like to do if I had the money to do something with. But the bottom line is if you have 9 digits that's 100 million or more you need to talk to a financial planner/advisor from a reputable financial institution. And go from to their to whatever lifestyle you chose to live. If you just want to sit on the money your still going to need financial advise otherwise I think taxes are going to eat up the holdings.

And yes I was making a little fun in my other post. Not meant to hurt any feelings.

STEP 5: Tie up the rest of the money for six months to one year to cool off before making major life changes. Be firm -- that is, firmly negative -- about requests for money

STEP 6: Shop around for a financial advisor

STEP 7: Develop a financial plan and stick to it for at least three years

{SNIP)))))))))

You need help

If you win a lottery, experts agree that, before you claim the prize, you should speak to a tax lawyer or an accountant to determine who should own the ticket: you or a spouse or child. Legal entitlement to the winnings has income tax, estate and creditor implications you must consider. First thing after making the claim, eliminate all non-deductible debt -- mortgages, credit card balances or car loans.

If your mortgage carries a penalty for early payment, you may avoid it by borrowing the same amount from the lender, at the same interest rate. Once the mortgage is paid, you are in effect reborrowing the money. If you then invest the reborrowed money, the interest on the loan, because it's for investment purposes, is tax-deductible.

Cool off, mostly

Now what? Hank Wissenz, a financial advisor at TD Evergreen, suggests T-bills or Canada Savings Bonds for at least six months -- "A year would be even better" -- to develop the patience and understanding of what the principal can do.

"A lot of people think, 'Oh, a million dollars. At a 10 per cent return, that's $100,000 a year," Wissenz says. " 'I can quit my job and buy all the things I've wanted and live happily ever after.' But $100,000 a year, because it is investment income, is taxable. So in fact it is more like $60,000." And since many winners spend $100,000 in the first month, they have less principal to generate income.

In his 14 years as a financial advisor, Wissenz has witnessed many horror stories of people suddenly coming into wealth: "One woman got a divorce settlement of $1.1 million. She loved to travel but didn't want to travel alone, so she took her friends, first class. She went through a series of expensive boyfriends, had multiple residences and ended up marrying the lead singer of a mariachi band in Mexico. You can imagine what happened next. After that divorce, she went into panic mode. She invested in a chain of tanning parlours. Now she is back at work, depositing money into an RRSP, trying to save for her retirement."

OK. OK. T-bills and GICs until we regain our sanity. But surely we deserve to have a little fun?

"I think most people are in a state of shock when they win; a celebration of some sort helps to make it real," says Wissenz. "Taking two to five per cent to blow on something frivolous would be fine in most cases, because with proper investments it can be replaced within a matter of months. Once you start splurging 10 per cent or more, it may take years to recover."

Say cheese

As a condition of claiming any significant prize, most lottery corporations' game rules entitle them to publish winners' names, addresses and photographs. Winners can therefore expect to be inundated with requests for money; 42 per cent of lottery winners winning a half million or more claim they have been hit on. Stay firm. Say you'll think about proposals but won't be making any decisions for at least six months. In the meantime, shop around for solid financial advice, maybe even before you even drop in to pick up your winnings. Find someone with financial experience, be it a lawyer, an accountant or a broker, although chances are you won't need all three. Be discreet, though. There's no need to go in waving your winning ticket.

If, for tax purposes, it's in your best interest to split your winnings with your spouse and minor children, think this out beforehand. Attribution rules, designed to prdvent people from reducing the income tax on their investment returns by sharing them with family members, could apply if you try to split winnings later on. Lottery corporations will generally only make out one cheque per winning ticket, but up to 15 names of average length can be on it. If you are sharing, have everyone sign the back of the ticket before you head off to the lottery office together.

If you are an American living in Canada, married to a Canadian, an expert advisor will also suggest your spouse claim any lottery jackpots. In the U.S., unlike Canada, lottery winnings are taxed from the get-go, and American citizens have to file a tax return -- and in this case pay the applicable tax -- no matter where they live.

One happy winner

Charles Wilson (not his real name) of Burnaby, B.C., did everything right when he shared a jackpot of $8.5 million with six other players back in 1998. Wilson, an accountant, put his $1.21 million in a term deposit and waited three months. "It has made my life more simple," he says, "not having to worry about paying bills." He admits that he has not managed to hang on to all of his capital. He and the other winners bought cars and houses. But as a group, they wisely consulted with more than one investment advisor. "People should know that they have to pay tax on the interest from a term deposit," Wilson says. "There are plans outside an RRSP where the tax works better.

"If I have one piece of advice to give other instant millionaires," Wilson adds, "it is this: Try to stay calm. Allow yourself a short stint of craziness and then just settle down. Put a good financial plan in place."

The 51-year-old's own money is safely invested. He plans on retiring early but, yes, he is still working. If he has one regret it is that he rushed into building his retirement home. "Another couple of rooms would have been nice," he says with the wisdom of hindsight. "And a double rather than a single-car garage."

You really need help

So the money flows into your life like a river. You proceed with caution, get good advice and execute your financial plan, but still something is wrong. You wake up in a sweat, anxious and panicked. You are obsessed with the idea that your fortune will vanish as quickly as it came. You feel guilty about being rich. You become paranoid, don't know who to trust anymore. You are suffering from what is called in California (where else?) "sudden wealth syndrome" (SWS).

Left untreated, SWS can result in psychological inhibition and mood dysphoria. To help the afflicted, the Money, Meaning and Choices Institute in Kentfield, Calif., near San Francisco, recommends personal counselling. The sufferer is encouraged to cut through denial and recognize his or her own responsibility for having such problems. Finally, a sense of balance and connection can be re-established through a healthy dose of philanthropy and socially responsible ventures.

One of Wissenz's favourite lottery stories concerns a woman who won $300,000: "She was in her 50s, unemployed and had a woefully inadequate pension from the company that had employed her throughout her working life. She had no spouse, and the only thing she really cared about was a small house she owned, which was in jeopardy. We had met to work out a financial plan that would let her hang on to what she had, and within six weeks of that meeting she won the lottery. For her, it was a gift from heaven. She did some small renovations on her kitchen and bathroom, but other than that she didn't make any big changes. Today, she lives feeling very secure, and any extra money she does earn she gives away to charity." Wissenz wishes all winners' stories had such a happy ending. As a final note of caution, he adds, "Generally, the length of time it takes a person to go from an initial lottery win back to zero is inversely proportional to the size of the winning."

Go ahead and dream of the Ferrari. Keep in mind, though, millionaires don't buy Ferraris; multimillionaires buy Ferraris. Dreams, however, cost nothing and American citizens have to file a tax return -- and in this case pay the applicable tax.

I've never turned a big check into liquidcash, but I've deposited a few and I've written a few when ever I've bought a new vehicle or some farmland at an auction and nobody ever asked "whatdoIdowiththis?". I assumed they took it to a local bank because they always ask if you want cash or do you wish to make a deposit?

Prob the quickest way is to buy coins & find yourself a big smelting pot to boil them into a liquid. ar ar

he said he had lots of ?? so, I thought that might be helpful?... if not to him than maybe someone else who'll hopefully win big someday? As far as I know any bank will let you deposit the check and once it's verified, or *cleared* then you can make withdrawls against it. Sometimes *funds are not available for immediate withdrawl*. But, you can have all the monies in your account withdrawn as cash just by asking for it that way. It's your money. But, I have no idea how long the waiting period is. JINZonINGEN 73, I suggest you ask someone more knowledgable... like a banker. :)